Cultural Considerations in Forensic Mental Health Assessment

10 hours | 10 CEs

This on-demand professional training program on Cultural Considerations in Forensic Assessment is presented by Barry Rosenfeld, PhD, ABPP. This badge-earning program can be shared digitally on platforms like LinkedIn or your resume and counts towards various certificates. Enroll to earn credit and share your new digital credentials with prospective employers and colleagues. This program counts as a foundational program in the certificates:

1. Criminal Forensic Assessment Certificate
2. Child Custody Evaluation Certificate
3. Civil Forensic Assessment Certificate
4. Juvenile Forensic Assessment Certificate
5. Violence Risk Assessment Certificate

This program covers a range of issues related to the forensic assessment of individuals from diverse ethnic and linguistic backgrounds. The last decade has witnessed a surge in awareness of the inherent challenges when applying forensic evaluation techniques to individuals from different cultures.

Indeed, the expectation that clinicians maintain adequate “cultural considerations” in both clinical practice and research has never been greater. This program incorporates the ever-growing research literature on culture and forensic Assessment and culminates in several guidelines for “best practices.”  The program begins with relevant background on the construct of “cultural co” and recent legal decisions that have addressed the importance of culturally appropriate Assessment techniques.

The program topics follow the timeline of a typical evaluation, with a review of issues and solutions that can be implemented prior to the evaluation begins, such as the role of pre-evaluation cultural research and adaptations to traditional procedures for eliciting consent. This is followed by a review of issues and recommendations for conducting the interview itself, including selection and training of translators, identifying culturally unique symptoms or behaviors, and interpretation of observed behaviors and reported symptoms. 

Finally, the program focuses on decision-making regarding psychological testing and the interpretation of test results. Relevant ethical issues related to cross-cultural forensic assessment are integrated throughout the program, as appropriate. Case vignettes are injected throughout the program to highlight relevant issues and techniques and elicit audience participation.